Who connects research with society? Beyond competencies

In recent Impact Corners, we have often discussed activities that help research generate benefits beyond academia. We have reflected on the importance of collaborating with societal stakeholders, establishing trusted relationships, measuring impact and integrating this approach into institutional culture.

However, behind all these activities lies a question that often remains in the background: who facilitates these processes?

Who supports research teams in identifying impact opportunities, connecting with society and translating scientific results into useful knowledge? Who incorporates this approach from the outset of projects and fosters an institutional culture that recognises and values these contributions?

In recent years, competency frameworks, training programmes and professional communities have begun to emerge in response to these questions. Together, they reflect an increasingly evident reality: generating impact requires not only specific knowledge and capabilities, but also individuals willing to build bridges between worlds that do not always connect naturally.

So perhaps the question is not only what competencies are needed to promote impact, but also who the people are who drive these processes and what they need to make them possible. 

When discussing research impact, one recurring issue is the need to develop new professional capabilities.

Academic literature has sought to identify the skills and competencies that facilitate connections between research and society. One of the key reference works in this field is the framework developed by Julie Bayley, David Phipps and their collaborators. This framework categorises a variety of competencies related to knowledge mobilisation and research impact generation.

The most frequently cited competencies include the ability to communicate effectively, listen to different perspectives, build trusted relationships, facilitate collaborative processes, understand diverse contexts, manage complex projects and identify opportunities for knowledge to be used beyond academia.

Interest in defining an appropriate profile for this role is therefore not a coincidence. As research increasingly incorporates open science, co-creation and social impact, there is also a growing need to recognise and professionalise the activities that make these developments possible.

This concern is reflected in recent initiatives such as the RM Comp European Competence Framework for Research Managers, developed by the European Commission. This framework includes competencies such as communication, stakeholder engagement and relationship building for research management.

However, when we try to summarise all of this in a list of competencies, we risk oversimplifying a much richer and more diverse reality. 

When we talk to people who work in the field of research impact, we often discover aspects that go beyond the abilities typically included in competency frameworks.

These include curiosity about understanding other realities and forms of knowledge. An interest in discovering what happens to research when it leaves academia. The ability to feel comfortable in uncertain contexts where outcomes are not always immediate or predictable; and the initiative to connect people who do not yet know one another or to ask questions that nobody has previously considered. The initiative to connect people who do not yet know one another, or to ask questions that have not been considered before.

Perhaps the most common characteristic is the ability to see connections. Recognising an opportunity for dialogue where others only see different disciplines, for example. Identifying that a research project may be useful for a particular community. To imagine collaborations that do not yet exist.

These qualities are not exclusive to a specific profile or an 'ideal type' of professional. In fact, one of the strongest lessons to emerge from practice is precisely the opposite: there is no single way to achieve impact. 

This question is more difficult to answer than it initially seems.

In some institutions, dedicated impact units or professional roles already exist that focus partially or entirely on these activities. In many others, however, these responsibilities are distributed among professionals working in areas such as communication, knowledge transfer, open science, participation, institutional relations and project management. In some cases, researchers themselves take on a significant proportion of these functions. 

Consequently, many impact-related activities remain relatively invisible and difficult to identify. This also contributes to highly diverse professional pathways. Some people come from science communication, while others come from research management, public policy, knowledge transfer or citizen participation.

This diversity is probably a strength. Impact requires different perspectives because the pathways connecting research and society are diverse. 

Another interesting aspect is that many of these capabilities cannot be learned solely through courses or manuals.

• How do we manage a relationship that is not developing as expected?
• How do we explain the relevance of a particular research project to a specific audience?
• How do we know when to persist and when to change strategy?

These are questions that rarely have a single answer. They are often learned through experience, through trial and error, reflection, and conversations with others who have faced similar challenges. 

This is why communities of practice are becoming increasingly important. Such initiatives not only help to share resources and experiences but also to build a professional identity around research impact.

At the European level, the EARMA Impact Thematic Group has become an important community where professionals from different countries exchange experiences, tools, insigths, and best practices related to research impact. Its objectives include promoting an impact culture, improving institutions’ impact literacy, and reflecting on the role and recognition of impact professionals. 

Similar initiatives are also emerging in Catalonia, such as the Impact Community of Practice promoted by AGAUR and various shared spaces among CERCA research centres. These initiatives aim to facilitate mutual learning and the collective development of knowledge around these practices. 

The same interest in understanding and giving visibility to these professional profiles has inspired initiatives such as Voices of Impact, a platform created by members of EARMA Impact that gathers personal experiences and career stories from impact professionals around the world, illustrating the diversity of pathways that can lead to this work and the richness of the profiles that contribute to it.

Perhaps one of the most valuable contributions of these communities is their reminder that there is no single way to do this work. Different contexts, institutions, and individuals require different approaches. 

In previous Impact Corner articles, we discussed the importance of building healthy impact cultures within institutions. That reflection remains relevant here. 

Because the challenge is not only to train people and help them acquire new competencies. It is also about creating the conditions that allow these capabilities to develop, be applied, and be recognised appropriately. This means providing time to build relationships, creating spaces for experimentation and learning, fostering leadership that supports these efforts, and cultivating institutions that understand and value these contributions.

If impact-oriented activities continue to be perceived merely as additional or secondary tasks, they will be difficult to sustain in the long term.

Perhaps the most important lesson is that working towards impact involves more than just accumulating competencies or holding a specific position. Rather, it is a combination of knowledge, skills, personal qualities, motivations, experiences and opportunities. People arrive at this work through different paths. Institutions organise it in different ways. Every context requires a different approach.

Rather than searching for an ideal profile, it may therefore be more useful to create environments in which people with diverse experiences and talents can contribute their best work, learn from one another and collaborate to connect research with society.

After all, if impacts can take many different forms, we will probably also need many different ways of making them happen. 

• Bayley, J., Phipps, D., Batac, M. and Stevens, E. (2018). Development of a framework for knowledge mobilization and impact competencies. Evidence & Policy, 14(4), 725–738. https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/evp/14/04/article-p725.xml
• Bayley, J. and Phipps, D. (2023). Extending the concept of research impact literacy: levels of literacy, institutional role and ethical considerations. Emerald Open Research. https://www.emerald.com/eor/article/doi/10.1108/EOR-03-2023-0005/241192/Extending-the-concept-of-research-impact-literacy
• European Commission (2025). RM Comp: The European Competence Framework for Research Managers. European Competence Framework for Research Managers. https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/jobs-research/rm-comp-european-competence-framework-research-managers_en
• EARMAImpact. Thematic group on research impact of the European Association of Research Managers and Administrators (EARMA). European community of practice to share experiences, resources and learnings on impact. https://earma.org/thematic-group/earmaimpact/ https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9317903/
• Voices of Impact. Initiative promoted by professionals linked to EARMAImpact to give visibility to the professional careers, skills and experiences of people who work around the impact of research. https://medium.com/earmaimpact-professionals/introducing-the-voices-of-impact-initiative-0c1acbb421be
• CERCA. Initiatives and communities aimed at promoting the impact of research and the exchange of good practices between Catalan research centers. https://cerca.cat/qui-som/grups-de-treball-cerca/
• AGAUR. Impact Community of Practice of the Catalan research and innovation system. https://lnkd.in/p/er_fwgZ7; https://lnkd.in/p/ejVZHCTk